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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I was walking across the biggest library in Montreal and took the time to observe all the people reading, writing and searching for books. So i really wonder why African countries don't have the same idea of sharing one space for knowledge purpose? I never had the chance to visit a public library in Egypt beside having to reach an University campus. When are we going to understand that we are doing it wrongly? Egypt's college have been on a strike for more than a year and my young cousins are simply chilling around. The same question can be applied on why we don't apply technology in the education. Here is a pure exemple of application that are used by many universities in North America:

https://idp.uqam.ca/cas/login?service=https://idp.uqam.ca/idp/Authn/RemoteUser

What about us? Papers and pens still...? Advanced countries reached a level where you don't need to present yourself in the universities when you have distance courses..
 
Africa needs a serious education rethinkk, reforms.


In DRC the situation has gotten very worrying even tho parents pay for their own kids education at all elevls. the last 25 years have been a desaster for the country. The internet itsellf is a desaster.


African economies are still agrerian economies so education is so elitist in countries like this..
What i would like to see in DRC is a Soviet style mass industrialization (in heavy industry)...Leave the Light industry to the private sector.
IMO, This will move the country from being agrerian to industrial and obviously the country will change forever.
 
Discussion starter · #5 ·
Africa needs a serious education rethinkk, reforms.


In DRC the situation has gotten very worrying even tho parents pay for their own kids education at all elevls. the last 25 years have been a desaster for the country. The internet itsellf is a desaster.


African economies are still agrerian economies so education is so elitist in countries like this..
What i would like to see in DRC is a Soviet style mass industrialization (in heavy industry)...Leave the Light industry to the private sector.
IMO, This will move the country from being agrerian to industrial and obviously the country will change forever.
But introducing a library system where students and normal civilians can loan books for free is easy to do but the problem (which i really believe is our main problem) is how we lack of trust and wouldn't lend a book for free lol. Anyway... Africa is still in the era where you need private teachers to have a good grade!

As for the part where DRC needs heavy industrialisation. I don't think this is what DRC really needs. Keep in mind that heavy indus will destroy your estate market.. Light industrialization is what DRC needs. Invest in telecommunication + education. Create more friendly environment for startups. Heavy industrialisation will worsen the condition of your population..
 
Africa in 1960 had alot of libraries...its just they were converted to mosques and temples...

the some that did stay are terribly old fashioned...

But recently in every ict park being built there is a national library equiped with wifi..

but i dont think they are far behind, im seeing little kids with e-reader in downtown dar es salaam, we heading back to that generation
 
Discussion starter · #8 ·
I'm really quite surprised. Thankfully, South Africa has pretty well-developed library infrastructure. Cape Town has 110 public libraries.

Unfortunately, our education failures are elsewhere.
Oh sorry let me correct:

In Port-Said for sure we don't have a public library. My cousins have to travel to reach their faculty college.
 
Oh sorry let me correct:

In Port-Said for sure we don't have a public library. My cousins have to travel to reach their faculty college.
There are 25 libraries in Port Said, 97 in Alexandria and 444 in Cairo (with an additional 186 in Giza).

http://www.egyptlib.net.eg/Site/Library/LibraryMap.aspx

Special mention for Biblotecha Alexandrina which houses Arabic, English and French books, it is the largest depository of French books in Africa, the MENA region and the sixth largest in the world as a whole. The library itself has enough shelves to house eight-million volumes. The Egyptian National Library is the biggest though in terms of collections.

The Egyptian National Library and Archives (Arabic: دار الكتب والوثائق القومية‎; "Dar el-Kotob") in Cairo is the largest library in Egypt. The second largest are the libraries of Al-Azhar University and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (New Library of Alexandria).

The National Library, the oldest government library, houses several million volumes on a wide range of topics. It is one of the largest in the world with thousands of ancient collections. It also contains a vast variety of Arabic-language and other Eastern manuscripts. The main library is a seven-story building in Ramlet Boulaq, a district of Cairo. The Egyptian National Archives are contained in an annex beside the building.
 
But introducing a library system where students and normal civilians can loan books for free is easy to do but the problem (which i really believe is our main problem) is how we lack of trust and wouldn't lend a book for free lol. Anyway... Africa is still in the era where you need private teachers to have a good grade!

As for the part where DRC needs heavy industrialisation. I don't think this is what DRC really needs. Keep in mind that heavy indus will destroy your estate market.. Light industrialization is what DRC needs. Invest in telecommunication + education. Create more friendly environment for startups. Heavy industrialisation will worsen the condition of your population..
I see, its a matter of someone to start it.

I remember back in the 1990s we used to read so much, we do not even have 1 library in the city (inly private and Catholic schools do).

We used to borrow one another's comic and some other Congo written books in elementary and middle school...now aftter the war, everything got worst.



But i agree, there need to be a library system...In DRC we need to destroy all these little stupid churches that have grown out of no where
 
I was walking across the biggest library in Montreal and took the time to observe all the people reading, writing and searching for books. So i really wonder why African countries don't have the same idea of sharing one space for knowledge purpose? I never had the chance to visit a public library in Egypt beside having to reach an University campus. When are we going to understand that we are doing it wrongly? Egypt's college have been on a strike for more than a year and my young cousins are simply chilling around. The same question can be applied on why we don't apply technology in the education. Here is a pure exemple of application that are used by many universities in North America:

https://idp.uqam.ca/cas/login?service=https://idp.uqam.ca/idp/Authn/RemoteUser

What about us? Papers and pens still...? Advanced countries reached a level where you don't need to present yourself in the universities when you have distance courses..
I don't think the utility of education is actually fully understood. The colonial model was created to make as many customers for british/French/dutch goods as possible, so they teach you just enough to know about Europe and be useful to the colonial administration in mid-level management. With that being our formal introduction to education, the idea of education being a means of expanding ones mind and enriching your experience on earth isn't common. You'll find that the people that have the 'go to school get a good job' mentality the most are people from former colonial nations. More than anywhere, education was introduced to them as route job training more than it was a means of improving your thinking, or capacity as a person.

This can be reversed if people that understand the thinking aspect of education starting putting forth efforts to build and stock libraries, host debates and fund research. Till this day Nigeria doesn't really teach history. History calls is 'this is all the nice stuff various british individuals did during the colonial era. and it end there. The average Nigerian teacher doesn't understand the value of teaching history, art, science, literature, etc. Most Africans themselves don't because these courses are beyond 'get a good job' in purpose.

Most people in Africa feel the humanities aren't a 'big deal' or is for white people. Then they have no clue why they can't have an election, follow traffic signs, handle authority, judge rationally, organize themselves, or show empathy
 
Education is considered very important in Kenya. The more prominent facilities in Nairobi include:


The McMillan Library:




The National Archives:




The Rahimtulla Trust Library:




And the crown jewel will be the new Kenya National Library, under construction in the Upper Hill district of Nairobi (get a move on folks!):



 
I don't think the utility of education is actually fully understood. The colonial model was created to make as many customers for british/French/dutch goods as possible, so they teach you just enough to know about Europe and be useful to the colonial administration in mid-level management. With that being our formal introduction to education, the idea of education being a means of expanding ones mind and enriching your experience on earth isn't common. You'll find that the people that have the 'go to school get a good job' mentality the most are people from former colonial nations. More than anywhere, education was introduced to them as route job training more than it was a means of improving your thinking, or capacity as a person.

This can be reversed if people that understand the thinking aspect of education starting putting forth efforts to build and stock libraries, host debates and fund research. Till this day Nigeria doesn't really teach history. History calls is 'this is all the nice stuff various british individuals did during the colonial era. and it end there. The average Nigerian teacher doesn't understand the value of teaching history, art, science, literature, etc. Most Africans themselves don't because these courses are beyond 'get a good job' in purpose.

Most people in Africa feel the humanities aren't a 'big deal' or is for white people. Then they have no clue why they can't have an election, follow traffic signs, handle authority, judge rationally, organize themselves, or show empathy
LOL

I was discussing this very topic with a Congolese friend of mine and yesterday with aunt.


In DRC humanities are taken seriously by the teachers. and all Universities (small, big, private or by the church). tho there are Art Academies that only teach Art..Art is serious in Congolese, be it music, sculture, painting, dressing etc... Litererature is also serious, but the country's political, social economic mess has badly made literature very bad....we even have Litterature Major that start from high school level tho its in French. :eek:hno:
There are a few researchers in local langguages..tho Lingala and Swahili are supreme.

The Catholic church is the master of education in DRC, followed by privates, protestant, and Kimbangu churches.
I think the Central gov only built 2 community colleges since 1960.


People come to America to make money, that is why they study to make money.Its different from those born in America tho. lol

I think it will take time before many people realize why they get education.

Remember that the Europeans, East Asians started very long time ago and until the industrial revolution education was still for the minority elite class...the industrial revolution made that most people start going to school to earn a living.
 
Recently there was an article about Tunisia that produces 70 000 unemployed graduates a year and one described the Tunisian university as a ' factory for unemployed '..
50% of the Tunisian economy is not competitive, too many monopolies etc.
They need economic reforms. But not much has happend since 2011..

Zimbabwe has one of the best educated people in Africa, but the wrong economic model. They need more liberalizing of the economy to really benefit from their good educated people.
 
It is a myth that education will develop a country. You need first a good economic policy and then adopt the education system to what the private sector, investors want..
Those are two conflicting statements. I don't think anyone is suggesting that education alone will develop a country. But a country with sound economic policy and an uneducated populace will only get so far. Therefore, education is extremely important, but not the only step towards developing a country.
 
Those are two conflicting statements. I don't think anyone is suggesting that education alone will develop a country. But a country with sound economic policy and an uneducated populace will only get so far. Therefore, education is extremely important, but not the only step towards developing a country.


That is what I mean..Education is very important, but some countries invested a lot in education, but never put much afford to reform their economies.
Look to Ukraine, they have a very good educated population, but the state never really reformed the economy as Poland etc did..
Ukraine didn't make much progress since 1994..
Poland who implented major reforms saw an economic boom..


Government need first to develop an economic vision. And then train the people they need.
 
That is what I mean..Education is very important, but some countries invested a lot in education, but never put much afford to reform their economies.
Look to Ukraine, they have a very good educated population, but the state never really reformed the economy as Poland etc did..
Ukraine didn't make much progress since 1994..
Poland who implented major reforms saw an economic boom..


Government need first to develop an economic vision. And then train the people they need.
LOL

Ukraine has been an absolute Socialist nation since 1917 and thanks to it education , an industrialized nation.
Ukraine has better standards of living than all Africa. an d most countries in Asia..

Tunisia does a good job educating it people instead of having lots of illitirates....Id rather have a surplus of educated people instead of a deficit.


South Africa has a very competitive economy, highly organized but suffer from shortage of qualified/skilled workers, while there is a chronic unemployement.
Rwanda that you admire so much has so many foreign workers when millions of Rwandans are unemployed??? Why does Tunisia has a better standard of living than Rwanda????

Mister, every country has it own problems and they are all differebnnt from one another....Just like France is different from UK, UK different from Germany and Japan, US is different from everyone etc... and all these countries developed in very different ways....the one thing they all have in common is to acheive the developed, industrial and tech savvy status.

Singapore you adore, not 1 city iin the world that has been able to copy it...because its a unique case, just like Lee Kuan said it.
 
Butembo, you should compare Ukraine with other European countries not with Africa. 30 years ago they were not much better then Poland. Poland started reforms late eighties and made enormous progress. Ukraine did not reform and made no progress.
Albania is also a country with a good education system , but very closed economy and one of the poorest countries in Europe..

Ukraine has a lot of heavy industries, but non is really competitive. Most of it goes to Russia. The reality is that many of this industries are bankrupt..
 
The issue of education in Africa, especially starting from secondary school to tertiary and eventually to cutting edge research is extremely important. In the past, with heavy influence from Western donors, emphasis was placed on primary school education. This was done in order to improve "literacy" rates in the continent, especially in poorer countries. Neglected were the high schools which produce the olympiads and debaters and exposes potential. Even worse were the universities which are not reformed to meet current needs. Universities often suffered because of intellectuals who questioned the political order of the day.

With the current state of events, we will continue to see a huge number of African scholars, who have succeeded with these minimal resources going out of the continent to Europe, North America, Australasia and now Asia. South Africa will stand as an exception since scholars can do something with the current conditions there. Indeed, at the present moment, a lot of young African scientists are moving to SA to study or work there in a similar way they go to Europe or US.
 
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